so busy these days

this weekend flew by so quickly! i guess that's what happens when you are a busy busy girl like me. ;)

work has been pretty crazy, planning and organizing... our admit day was friday and despite going to popscene the night before, i made it there on time to set up for all the events. i even remembered to wear a green ribbon for st. patrick's day. at the reception later in the day, the students came up to me one by one to tell me how much they liked my new hair do. it was so sweet. even one of the student's 8 y/o daughter told me that she liked my hair. her father, one of our students, asked me where i got it cut because apparently, no hairdresser will cut layers on his wife's hair. strange. gina will do it in 10 seconds too. so, i have to remember to send him gina's information. at the end of the reception, he was telling an admit (who only applied to ivy league schools except for stanford) that a great reason to come to stanford was because of me! and another student who was still there, seconded that vote. i love my students... they are so sweet to me! when his daughter was saying goodbye to me, she told me she thought i was pretty. aw... what a cutie...

i left work around 6:30p and headed home to drop off some things before going over to my best friend's parents' house. kelly was back home all week but sick and very busy so i didn't get to see her and emily until the end of their trip. we hung out catching up with one another. it was so lovely to see her and just chat with her. she lives in burbank and i'm hoping she will move back up. but despite the distance, we're still very close and always have a great time together. we went to the nordstrom trend show early the next morning. they gave out these really cute make-up cases. see above, isn't it cute? she left later saturday evening and i miss her already!

on saturday night, betty and i went to berkeley to a birthday party (happy 31st heather!). heather is a great salsa dancer so there is always dancing there. we got there a little late but people were coming even as we were leaving sometime after midnight. it was a lot of fun. except for the lame girl who, the first thing she said to me was that she didn't like the beer i was drinking. um, okay, whatever stupid girl. sometimes, i just hate people.

today was a full day. i had planned to do laundry for my trip but ended up not doing any at all! i had lunch with my brother and sister-in-law, their kids and their friends. ugh, i was stuffed so i helped them clean up while they caught up. then betty called me up and asked if i wanted to go out for dinner. sure why not! not long after, my cousin debbie calls me to see if i was busy for dinner. so i call betty and we planned to have dinner with my cousin and her husband at xanh. but betty flaked and my other cousin lam and his fiancé were invited so it was the five of us. we had a great time. the food was delicious as usual. i love my cousins and their significant others, i always have a wonderful time with them.

scratch that...

...missing the ex part. i'm having the time of my life (with all the girls nights out). i refuse to be pathetic because i am spiky, tough and energetic.

drowning my sorrows

um yeah, if sorrows is what you call missing the ex. i went out tonight with my partner in crime and made friends with a true bartender (who will give free drinks to cute girls), joe at the village. we stayed long after closing, which seems to be a bit of a problem for us but they don't seem to care. we talked life, love, sex, and touched a bit on religion even. then we were good to go. thank you betty, it was just what i needed. you're the best!!

the wedding present... again

venue: slim's
artist: the wedding present
who: betty
when: 24 february 2006 (friday)
doors open at 8p

tom f-something was the opening band. and they were these brothers who were random country- rapping-i-don't-know- what-but-they-sucked- so-bad kind of band from new york. they sort of reminded me of this really small and bad version of the bare naked ladies. it was sort of a performance and might have been entertaining had i been drunk. there was this annoying guy in the corner who kept rooting them on... noooooo, don't encourage them, you jackass!

finally, the wedding present came on. david gedge was so cute and sexy. i love his voice. and the way he sings... with all his gestures, it's like he's just talking to you in a very melodic tone. i don't remember the show being so good the last time we saw them with alex and the gross glory guy. and maybe it was because i was too distracted by glory but this time, i was really impressed, i think more so than the first time we saw them at bimbo's when i met him. i would SO see them a fourth time.

random chick on marguerite shuttle

so i know i just got this haircut but i'm still getting used to it. since i wasn't in the office on friday (and i got my hair cut on thursday after work), my work colleagues had yet to see my new do. i noticed that one faculty didn't recognize me right away. funny. so, the top is a lot shorter than i'm used to. i was just getting used to having bangs (cut last december but i sported the no bangs-look for years)... needless to say, i'm feeling a tiny bit self-conscious about my hair. i know i'll get used to it...

this evening, after running to the shuttle to catch my 5:49p train, i got on the shuttle and sat next to this woman i've been taking the same shuttle with for at least the past 2 years if not longer. we've never really spoke to one another. she turns to me and says... what a cute haircut on you!

thank you random chick on the marguerite shuttle!!

my new do

the conversation i had with my hairdresser last thursday...

gina: your long hair is hot! what do you want to do with it?

me: i want it short.

gina: short? but it's hot long.

me: my boyfriend and i broke up so i need it short now.

gina: ohhh, i understand... it's going to look so hot.

15 minutes later, she created my new do below. she's a genius... i love her.

last day of lunar year celebration

tonight i went to dinner with my great friend betty and her mom, along with her mom's friends to celebrate the last day of the lunar new year. we had lots of delicious chinese dishes and humorous conversations in mandarin and broken english. right now, i am soooo full.

earlier today, i had a nice chat with a friend in germany. it was really nice chatting and hearing his voice. he's hoping to come out for a visit next month. and we've decided to meet up for dinner and take a drive. it's something i'm really looking forward to. matthias, thanks for being such a sweetheart...

adrien brody

tonight i think i made myself a revelation. i think that adrien brody is totally sexy. yeah yeah, he's got a slightly large nose but still, he's hot. i saw king kong tonight and he was just so dreamy. not to mention, a great actor (hence the academy award win). especially in the jacket, even though that was with keira knightley. i don't know what it is exactly, but wow.

citizen cake & popscene

last night, i went to a birthday dinner with betty and her tgw friends. we went to citizen cake. which actually took me back to summer of 2003. betty and i were at a popscene event and there were these guys from spain. one of whom was very sweet on betty. so we were dancing and his frumpy friend was apparently, sweet on me. but i didn't want to dance with him. i'd noticed matt (matty as he liked to be called) standing around. he was cute and seem to be by himself. so when he walked by, i grabbed him and asked him to dance with me. and he did! afterwards, the cute young guy from spain wanted to hang out, so we invited matty and his friend steve along. i think we went to sparky's, our usual after popscene hang out. and matty spoke a little spanish, so he was chatting with the spanish guys. we found out that matty was from boston and worked at citizen cake and very gay. which brings me back to last night. as we walked in, i saw someone who looked like him at the bar. i asked our waitress if his name was matt and if he went by matty, she said yes! but rather than try and see if he remembered us from nearly 3 years ago, we just had a blast eating and drinking. citizen cake is known for their desserts, i had a passionfruit mousse cake. it was very fresh and very tasty.

after dinner, 3 out of us 6 headed over to popscene to continue the birthday celebra- tion. we've been missing will since before new year's. nothing was going quite right, many usual characters were MIA ... franco, jessica, josh, even mr. jessica, and of course will. the band sucked. our tom collins were too strong and chris gave us tequila shots, blegh. so we went outside to get some air and a smoke. when we got back in, josh was there (maybe he was there before we went outside), our drinks were a little more watered down, the band was over and done with, and to top it off, will suddenly appeared! out of nowhere! actually, he was on the other side but still, he finally appeared. then everything was much better and we had a happy ending. happy birthday georgia peach!

so much to do, so little time

i've been so busy lately with social events and plans in general. and next month, i have a trip to chicago to look forward to. i almost moved there in the summer of 1999 with an ex who got into northwestern for med school. he was on the waitlist for uc san diego and then got in, so he asked me where i wanted to go. of course, i choose to stay in san diego. he then blamed me for med school being so hard for him, that he might have been better off in chicago. but then, would he have cheated on me with that undergrad? hmmm, um yeah, i'm glad i didn't move to chicago back then.

anyway, i am finally heading back to do some sight seeing and be a tourist. chicago is always a stop over for me when travelling east (boston, dc, london, etc) so it's funny that i never actually saw the city. i am staying with a friend from ucsd who coincidentally has problems with her younger musician boyfriend too. so, we are going to paint the town red. i absolutely cannot wait!

as for the rest of february, i have birthdays to celebrate, dancing to do, bands to see and a restaurant opening to look forward to enjoying. life is wonderful.

coming home to a ted-less apartment

today, ted moved out. he's moved to the city. and it was a bit bittersweet to come home to what i'd recognized and been used to for the last 4 months. but 4 months isn't even that long. it's a chance for a new beginning and i've got plans for the new space. i can't wait to make great use of it.

cheers

last night, betty and i went to our favorite restaurant & bar at santana row, the village café. where almost everyone knows our names, well our faces anyway. we had our usual vodka infusion shaker (red raspberry, yummm) and jorge made me this delightful creation he calls splendor. splendid it was indeed. it had pineapple infusion with some bubbly and midori. it was delish! we also had our usual steamed clams (which were so big this time!), linguica on the side. i looooove my sausage! hehe

anyway, i had a nice chat with anthony about life and relationships. he usually just sticks his tongue at me or calls me a vixen but it was a little refreshing to be serious once in a while. we chatted until well past closing and when i looked up, the restaurant had closed, only jorge and betty were left aside from us and it was midnight! anthony walked us out to our cars and we went home, happy and intoxicated with life.

another new year's celebration...

sunday marked the year of the dog. it was a day full of fun and celebration. i spent mot of the day shopping in the city. we went to h&m and zara. and loads of money was spent, thankfully not entirely by me. then we went out to eat at this unlikely restaurant. with all the neon and cheesiness on the outside, you would never know that it was great. and we were there until they closed! they even lit up some firecrackers for us! yay!

on the new year, there are things that you are not supposed to do such as cleaning and other miscellaneous chores. you're not supposed to cut your hair, nails or anything else from your body. you're not supposed to cook either. so what are people supposed to do for eating? go out. actually, i think what usually happens is having leftovers from the new year's eve dinner the night before. of which i'd spent with my family. my mom cooked up a feast full of foods that are good luck. one other thing i didn't know about, you should have a person who is of fortunate virtue to be the first person to walk through your front door. so, we had trang's friend's mom do it. apparently, she's very lucky. and luckily for me, she walked through my apartment too. here's looking forward to a great new year!

new year's eve adventures

last saturday, ted and i drove up to marin county and over the golden gate bridge (for ted's first time ever!). he needed a sound pedal repaired and this guy came highly recommended. he was a really nice guy too. the type to talk your ear off but also the type to help you out by explaining in detail how things work.

we then headed back to the city to go to h&m, unfortunately, they were closed so we went over to anne & dave's place (ted's new bandmates). we were hungry so we went to dinner at this mayan restaurant a couple of blocks away from their very cute apartment on the border between mission and dolores. this is our ideal location of where ted and i want to live. the four of us had a lovely time chatting and getting to know each other. they are the nicest couple ever!!

after dinner, we went over to their friend allison's house in noe valley. her house was amazing. i really didn't think they rented out homes like that. she lucked out, the owners moved to germany. so she'd been there for years and years. we were just hanging out when she noticed my feet and asked me what size they are. i'm a size 5 in shoes. she proceeded to bring out these cute brown boots and told me she had planned to ebay them but hadn't the chance and wasn't sure if she might ever do it but wanted to see if they fit me. they did! so i left with a new pair of brown boots. i will try to post pics soon of me wearing them. it also turns out that allison works in the biotech industry and studied marine biology at san diego state during the time i was at ucsd and scripps. it really is a small world out there, isn't it? we're also the same age. it was nice chatting with her about science... it sort of made me miss it.

anyway, allison and others had to leave for a show. so we went back to anne and dave's to figure out what to do next. there was a party of anne's coworker's in the haight so we headed off that way. i offered to drive so i had to put away a few things in the trunk and i can't remember if i closed it but i assumed it was closed. i think we were 3/4 to the house when i saw bright red and blue lights behind me and heard sirens and instructions to pull over. i was driving pretty safely, didn't have too much to drink at allison's so i wasn't sure what was going on. it turned out that my trunk wasn't closed and that it was bopping up and down while i was driving. and we had NO idea whatsoever!! apparently, it's an offense and warranted getting a traffic violation for. who knew? since i was not a tax payer in the city of san francisco, he asked anne and dave if i should get a ticket. they said no, of course not! geez... what an ass.

we arrived at our point of destination moments later. i was able to find a parking space around the corner to the house. this place was anne's coworker craig's place. when i walked in, i saw that they had fillmore posters in picture frames! i've been looking for these for a while. i was afraid i might have to get them custom framed. they said there's a place called cheap petes(??) that sell them for $19 each. so now, i am very excited about finally being able to frame my beautiful south and jesus & mary chain fillmore posters. yay! craig and his partner (dan?) had this great apartment with a rooftop patio area where we all ventured up to and champagne in hand, welcomed the new year with fireworks going off and a beautiful view of the city all around us. it was so picturesque. but the cold eventually soaked through and we were headed back into the house. as we were chatting about music (as most musician and music lovers do), anne asked ted if he was a trashcan sinatras fan. he pointed towards me as i LOVE them. it turns out that craig is a huge fan and went to almost all of the same tcs shows i did! it's always so awesome meeting other tcs non-creepy fans! as 2am approached, we decided to call it a night.

after dropping off anne and dave, we drove back home. i felt okay to drive and was alert enough i didn't ask ted to take over. but after 30 minutes or so, it began to hit. i was soooo tired! i wasn't driving in and out of lanes, just not so straight in my lane. then, as i started my deceleration to exit 1/4 mile away, i saw them again, those damned lights! i exited one exit before my home exit and pulled over to the side. the copper asked me if i was tired and i said YES! that we were coming home from the city. i told him i had two glasses of champagne before midnight (it was 3am by now). he checked my eyes and noticed my left eye was red and watery. then he made me step to the side to follow his finger with my eyes. my contact lense from my right eye came out during the test. and i had to try to put it back in the wind blowing my hair every which way. he told his partner that he noticed my eyes and that it was strange. so, his partner did the test with following his finger. i then remember about my blocked tear duct and told them i was awaiting surgery in march for it. the first copper brought out the breathelizer and with all my might, i blew hard into it knowing i was sober. he then said that he would stop wasting my time and go out to catch the actual drunken drivers. stopped twice in one night and for the first time, not for speeding... what a great way to start off the new year. i must be the luckiest girl ever.

future american idols

yep, all four of them. ;)

christmas with the parkers

i went to pembroke, mass. again this year for christmas. last year was my very first white christmas ever. this year, it was a bit spotty. there was snow the week before and it was slowly melting. ted and i were there for 3 full days and had two flight days. we had pizzeria regina every day we were there, including flight days. it's ted's favorite pizza ever.

it was really nice to see his family. i met them last year and didn't really get a chance to get to know them, well, except for his mother. this year, i was able to chat with them more. with his sisters allison and kaitlyn, their significant others sean and tom, respectively. his cousins doug and joe as well as meeting doug's girlfriend meg. a bit with his uncle tom, not at all with his girlfriend mara. some with his aunt mary. and tons with his mom. i had a great time. can't wait to visit them again...

i hope everyone had a lovely christmas!!!

sorry for the lack of pictures, i made videos of my visit with my new camera (thanks ted!!). here's one... since macy's recently bought out filene's (robinsons-may, lord & taylor), who knows what the filenes building will look like next year.

wow weekend

december 2nd

last friday, my cousin's girlfriend, nina who is one of my childhood friends, turned 29. i've known her since i was 10 and she was 8. nina and her brother morris lived across the street from us. my sister and i played with nina almost every day. nina was in the same grade as my cousin lam. and we really wanted nina to be our family so we thought it would be cool if she married our cousin so she can be our cousin too! we used to tease them... nina and lam, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g... heehee.

little did we know the harm or rather delay it would cause. when they were at school together, they would avoid each other as a result of our teasing. but somehow, they eventually got together sometime in high school. i think it was on and off and then off to other relationships. about 5 years ago, nina came back from school in new york. we all went out to a club in downtown san jose and despite nina coming to the club with some other guy, she and lam sort of reconnected that night. but then it was off and she went off to paris with a divorcee. then, two years ago, it was on for them but they had their issues but soon after, they were together and definitely on.

so, back to last friday... nina opened lam's gift last. it was in this big red box. i remember thinking to myself, everyone is here, friends, family, her parents, his mom, would he propose in front of everyone? i'd hoped so. and as soon as i saw the jewelry box (unaware she'd asked for one), i knew there'd be a ring inside. if not, there would be a huge sigh of disappointment. from the girls anyway. i felt as though i was going through the drawers as fast as she could. finally, the very last (and hardest to remove) drawer, was a 3-diamond ring on an engraved band. that's the extent of my knowledge on diamonds and rings. next time i see her, i would photograph the ring in detail. but it was beautiful. lam had help from his sister, debbie in picking out the ring. so, when the ring appeared, lam got down on one knee and proposed, in front of everyone. i couldn't help but cry. it was like a fairy tale. of course nina said yes. it was such a special event and i'm so happy to have witnessed it.

december 3rd

the second annual rock against aids benefit featured julie plug as its headliner. i hadn't seen them in a while and they always put on a great show so we decided to head downtown (despite my hate for the dt san jose scene). doors were supposed to open at 8p but it was pushed to 8:40p. the first band started unusually on time, at 9p. there were supposed to be 5 bands but one was a no show and so rather than julie plug started at 1a, they started at 11:15p or so. i think they only played 4 songs and suddenly, the dj started playing some no doubt song after at the end of the song julie plug was playing. everyone was in a state of confusion. perhaps everyone but the club workers and djs. the band was in disarray not really knowing what to do. as the audience booed the club and yelled julie-plug, it was to no avail. dev from the band tried saying something but the mic wasn't working and soon, the organizer made an announcement that the benefit was over but with no reason for the abrupt end. so half the audience rushed out of the club in utter disappointment and anger. damn that club. please join in banning the san jose angels lounge. they suck BIG time. try all you might to hide the ghetto out of your club, no number of white sheets can hide that.

december 4th
i had breakfast with my favorite (out of the 10 or so i had) college rommie. despite having lived with her for only a quarter, she's the only one i still remain friends with. i hadn't seen her in a while. she drove me down to LA to see ted on our first date from fresno. that was may of last year. we'd been trying to meet up ever since but failed miserably in doing so. finally, on her way back to fresno, we met up for breakfast and caught up. along with my friend betty, we were contemplating a new book. to be called be blassé. in order to attain happiness in a relationship or not, every woman should remember her individuality and try very hard not to mold into a man's ideal because in the end, you won't be happy.

later in the evening, i went to the private shopping event at nordstrom. this year they skimped out on their treasure chest BIG time. plus, they limited the amounts to one per customer instead of one per $100 you spend. i'm taking back half of what i got. damn them. i should've gone to the stanford shopping event.

birthday/thanksgiving 5-day holiday weekend

last wednesday, i turned 23, again. um, for the...8th time. okay okay, i really turned 31 but i don't feel even close to it. maybe it's because when i think about being 31, i imagined i would be married and popping out kids or have popped out kids like pretty much everyone around me. but that's okay, i am enjoying my life as i am right now.

my birthday was great. i took the day off because my manager said since she never works on her birthday, i couldn't work on mine. so i spent the day cleaning and slaving away for my party. i woke up at 8a and cleaned my apartment until 11a which is when i'd left for lunch with my sister at 11:30 so we could beat the rush and then have time to go shopping. by 11:40, banana leaf was so crowded we were relieved we met up early. after shopping, i went on a grocery shopping adventure to 4 different stores. i didn't get back until just before 4p to start cooking away. my brother had gotten us a refrigerator the night before and decided to hook it up just before my party started. despite half the people flaking out on me at the very last minute, it was a lot of fun. lots of food and lots of wine. i had a great time...

thanksgiving was the very next day. there were about 20 people coming over to my brother's house upstairs and his mother-in-law was in the kitchen with my sister-in-law slaving away all day. the dinner was a gourmet asian fusion with a touch of thanksgiving in terms of having mashed potatoes and stuffing in 3 chickens. first, the appetizers included seafood toast, fried bananas, and smoked salmon on shrimp chips and dressings. then for dinner, there was sea bass steam cooked in banana leaves, garlic noodles with grilled shrimp, seasoned rice with quail eggs and shrimp, vegetarian egg rolls, roast beef, roasted chicken, and a spring salad with shredded mango. for dessert, we had pumpkin pie and leftover burnt almond pumpkin birthday cake. it was a grand old time and much fun was had by everyone who came.

i actually didn't really do any holiday shopping yet. we went to the gilroy outlets at midnight after thanksgiving dinner, along with the rest of the asians in the bay area, but only stayed 20 minutes and left shortly after browsing one store. all in all, it was a pretty good and relaxing holiday. it was actually the first year i didn't have to make a turkey, which i actually missed doing. but it was nice not to have to do anything. ted made the mashed potatoes. good stuff.

thank you claire!

prior to meeting my financial advisor, i wasn't getting much back on my fidelity investments for my 403b. but since i had no idea what or how to do it, there wasn't much i could do. after meeting with her and following her advice, i changed my investments around to be more versatile on different types of stocks and bonds. my dividends & investments went from $1.37 in september to getting $162.27 in october!

thank you thank you thank you!

stars and death cab

venue: leavey center @ scu
artists: stars and death cab for cutie
who: ted, alex, andrew, betty, louis, romano, jen & jonathan
when: 15 november 2005 (tuesday)
doors open at 7p

last night we went to santa clara university to their leavey center to see death cab. stars opened for them but sounded terrible! the vocals were so low, we could hardly hear the words in the songs. which was a total bummer for me, i really like them. fortunately, i've seen them live twice and actually met both torquil campbell and amy millan, who were both very nice.

it was quite an adventure to find betty last night sans cell phone. she came solo as well. she called me 20 to 7p saying she was on her way but that she might stop home and that she would look out for us. i hoped she'd be there by the time we got there but not to my surprise, she didn't get there until after 8p. luckily, she ran into louis (avec une cell phone) and was able to contact me. we met up outside after the show.

it was my first time seeing death cab for cutie. they played songs from all albums including moviescript ending which was the first song i heard from them. the sound was a lot better than stars so i'm not sure what exactly it was, the band or the venue that screwed up earlier. ben gibbard truly has a great voice. it was a pretty good show despite the dry refreshments and obnoxious undergraduates...

his holiness, the dalai lama

last friday, i was given an opportunity of a lifetime. i got two complimentary reserved tickets to see the dalai lama talk on nonviolence. the last time his holiness was here was in 1994 and tickets for all 3 events had been sold out for months. i went with my sister-in-law's brother, dochi. he's a big buddhist and has a tibetan name that means being a rare diamond. we sat next to these vietnamese ladies who knew him, his tibetan name and how they met him. it was very cool.

the talk was political and a bit on the dry side. but the q & a afterwards was great. words to describe being there and the dalai lama...

amazing. humble. hopeful. positive. intelligent. humorous. playful. genuine. so down-to-earth.

it was so wonderful to know that he didn't have all the answers (who does?). and that in the presence of such greatness, he just seemed like a sweet old man. especially with all that he's been through, being exiled from his home country, he was just so positive and made me want to be a better person.

combat baby

venue: slim's
artist: metric
who: ted, betty, alex
when: 03 november 2005 (thursday)
doors open at 8p

last night, we went to see metric at slim's. it was a sold out show. even the balcony area we love to settle ourselves in was completely booked and blocked off for ticket holders with dinner reservations. kinda like largo but that's never happened at slim's before...

they had two unnecessary opening bands so by the time metric started, it was past 11p. my feet were killing me from wearing my high heels, so i could see better but who was i kidding? making me just over 5 feet doesn't do me any good with men like ted, 6 feet plus towering over me. oh well, i tried.

after 3 tom collins and two bands that sucked, i was ready to go. then metric came on and i didn't recognize any of the songs. but the singer, emily, has a very lovely voice. it was nice to hear her sing live despite the one song we knew which we (excluding ted) were just waiting to hear. finally they played combat baby and that was our que to visit alex's toothless boyfriend at the crepe truck. alas, when we got there, he'd gone but we still got our savory crepes! they were delicious after midnight on a cold and drizzly day.

ted finally showed up after metric finished 7 more songs after we went for crepes to take us home. i crashed as soon as i got into my seat. overall, metric sounded great live. emily haines has an awesome voice. and despite not being able to see her funky dance at the keyboards (as told to me by ted) and standing in really uncomfortable shoes (we meant to be sitting upstairs) for about 4 or so hours straight, it was a good show.

stanford bonus

today stanford university gave out university-wide bonuses to the staff and faculty. we were given $250. and after taxes, the amount came out to $142. apparently, the university has never shown such display of generosity before and i'm not sure they ever will again. it was a nice surprise, especially with the holidays and family birthdays coming up... including mine.

this is what i'm getting myself...they cost $245 and they are mbt shoes. mbt stands for masai barefoot technology developed by the swiss. the swiss are always developing comfortable shoes, aren't they? they say these shoes are the smallest gym and help your posture, which i definitely need! there's a video on how you should start wearing them to get used to them. i'm so getting these by the end of the month...

meeting emily

last saturday, i flew down to burbank to meet kelly's little arrival. she looked so small and pink (heehee). she just slept and ate and slept and ate. but kelly's house was full of visitors, her parents were both down from san jose. her cousins were over and her sister joy, the girls and wade showed up too. there was a lot of food and fun. i was there for about 5 hours, i think. it was lovely to see kelly...
...more pictures to come...

funny random incident...

i was just in the copy room at work and one of our faculty walks in...

he says, "how embarassing! we have matching jeans" as he points to his seven jeans.

i say, "why? i'm not that young, it means you're stylish"

silly rabbit, i mean, professor.

introducing emily-anne yoshiko burich...

at 8 lbs and ½ oz. and 19 ½ inches and delivered on october 22, please help me welcome emily-anne to the world!!

emily-anne's delivery...

last thursday night, my best friend kelly's water broke. her baby was due around sunday. i called friday evening after work, kelly had yet to give birth and it was 18 hours after her water broke. then on saturday afternoon, i called kelly again and her husband chris, and no one picked up. after brunch that day, kelly called me back. she sounded exhausted but still herself. emily-anne was delivered at 3:37am on saturday morning at 8 lbs and kelly had been in the hospital for 27 hours. that's right, 27 hours. i know, i can't imagine either.

anyway, this weekend, i am flying down to meet the new baby and see the new parents! i can't wait... i'll bring back pics!

death cab and muffin spa day @ bliss

on sunday, death cab for cutie tickets went on sale at 10am online. betty and i have been waiting to go to their show for ages. last time they were here, we completely missed out on them. as soon as we heard about the show, they had already sold out. so this year, with the new album, we decided we would definitely go.

after getting tickets, i left for muffin spa day at bliss spa at the w hotel, which had just opened in july. it is on the 4th floor and is oh-so-blissful. there were the four of us, me, muffinslut, murdock muffin, and blueberry muffin. we were there for 3 hours filled with relaxation and pampering. it was lovely. we plan to go back soon!

while still in our very blissful moments, we decided to get a piece of heaven and go to kirala's for sushi. most of our favorite characters including louis the bartender and conrad, one of the sushi chefs. it was an absolute smurftastic day! ;)

my inner geek

ted and i have been watching this mini series called taken on dvd. when it was on the sci-fi channel a couple of years ago, my brother and i watched it with much excitement. i was a huge x-files fan and this show was right up my alley. there are a bunch of no names in it and a couple actors that are in the mainstream now. for example, dakota fanning is in it and stanford from sex & the city. i don't know his real name.

anyway, each episode is about an hour and a half so we are limited to watching one episode on a work night. the mini series starts in the 1940s at the time of ww2 and follows 3 different families that intertwine with each other over a few generations to present time. there are so many new characters being introduced and the make up on the aging characters is horrible but the story line is absolutely riveting.

i actually bought the dvd for my brother's birthday and couldn't wait to start watching it. he has yet to get the chance to watch it again because of his very busy schedule but i'm sure he will get around to it. it doesn't make me a bad person, right?

happy 33rd to my big brother!!

last friday, my big brother turned the big 33. my lovely sister-in-law (his sneaky wife) sent out an email saying that they were throwing him a birthday party on saturday with him included. then she turned around and sent outanother email excluding my brother about his surprise birthday dinner at maggiano's.
here is my 4-year old nephew in his fancy tuxedo that he never gets to wear. the story was that i was taking him to a dress up party at my friend's place and that there would be other children there, um, yeah right. likely story...

us girls with the birthday boy & two little boys

all the men

after the parents left, the shots came out. it was a grand ole time for all but 3 sick ladies. too many shots, apparently for some...

my younger cousin's blog

so i've been secretly reading my younger cousin's blog. i'd say little but she's twice as big as i am. but i am 10 years older. which makes me feel old... i guess i'm not really secretly reading her blog, i told her once, and she was embarassed! but she's so full of sass on her blog. she's usually very sweet and quiet and respectful around me. it's refreshing to know how much attitude she has. she's also a sagittarius which means sass was a given.

despite the whole open to the world blog thing, i still feel like i'm secretly doing it. i wonder what she would think if she read my blog? hmmm...

shoes from the nordstrom sale earlier this summer

aren't they pretty?

summary of events...

i've been bad with posting lately because i've been SO utterly busy!! anyway let's see what's happened in the last few weeks...

sunday, september 4
my lovely cousin debbie got married to her sweetheart of almost 10 years, roger. it was in morgan hill and despite the very hot weather, a very beautiful occasion. i saw family i hadn't seen in ages! and the nordstrom crew, as always, is a pleasure to spend time with! my sister-in-law thuy played this hilarious joke on the bride and groom. it was after we saw my other cousins (the bride's siblings) make the couple eat a spring roll from each end. it was sort of like the spaghetti scene in the lady and the tramp. anyway, thuy got a piece of cold broccoli, tied it when something she found out of the centerpiece and dipped it in hennessey! so, jacob (lisa's bf) hung it over their heads for them to bob and eat it together. they said it was the nastiest thing they'd ever eaten. but she told us she loved us anyway... :D

saturday, september 10
the big moving day. i flew down on thursday night so i can help ted move. i spent half the day on friday packing up his stuff. good thing he doesn't have much. i'm so not looking forward to packing my stuff up. i really need to learn to throw out stuff. the actual moving day was a big mess... it started at 9 in the morning to pick up the uhaul truck and the tow dolly (to tow his car). there was a problem with the two dolly and one of the lights didn't work. so they had to take it to a different location. we were starved and went to the café tropical in silver lake for a snack and coffee (really good cuban food, the coffee is SO good! and at great prices). we then decided to run to the osh hardware store to pick up some rope for his piano. and on the way back to the uhaul, we saw an american apparel store and ted stopped to get a shirt for work. by the time we got back, it was 11am. we still had a lot of packing to do!

sometime after 2pm, ted's friend mal showed up to help with the piano. it was a tough job despite the ramp. there were two other guys that came and helped them lift the piano up a little step to the back of the truck. i spent most of the time finishing up all the packing and doing some cleaning. then my friend (and ted's) joe showed up after mal left and help tremendously with the move. we still need to take joe out for helping us.

after all the packing and cleaning, we were finally done! so we took the truck out for some gas and some dinner. then we got back to put the car on the tow and had no clue how to do it. so ted called uhaul and they told him to stop in and they would do it for him. it was 20 minutes to 7 and they closed at 7. by this time, the other light of the tow dolly had gone out! it was so frustrating!! when we got to uhaul, the guy that was helping us didn't speak an ounce of english and had no idea what ted was asking him. finally, some other guy came along. but he wouldn't help us because they didn't want to be liable so he just showed us what to do. finally, we got on the road at 7:20p. and while merging onto the freeway, some stupid jerk tried to cut us off. he sped up while we were getting into the right lane and almost hit us but went onto the pavement to avoid it. what an asshole.

we stopped once to get gas 3/4 down to empty. it costs us $75. the whole way, ted went 65 mph or slower. the speed limit for the tow dolly is actually 45 mph. it was going fine until we saw some flashing lights. it was a copper. he said one of the chains from the tow had fallen out and that we might want to secure it. apparently, it had been dragging on the road that part of the hook had disintegrated! the cop probably noticed the sparks from it dragging. it was close to 3am when we finally got back to my apartment. we just brought in the necessities.

the next day we unloaded in an hour! and it took a while to get someone to help with the piano but we finally dropped it off at my parents' house and dropped off the truck. good riddens. i don't know if we'll tow a car again...

yesterday, september 13
i had my follow up with my ophthalmologist. and the intubation didn't work. my tear ducts are still completely obstructed and now, it means i will need surgery. the surgery entails opening up the side of my nose to stretch out the tear duct sac. he says it would happen on a friday and i would be able to go back to work on monday. eek. good to know it's a fast recovery time. he wrote me a prescription for eye drops and wants to see me in 6 months. what a pain...

tube free!

on tuesday, i had my appointment with the ophthalmologist. i wasn't sure if he was going to remove my tube just yet or just check it out. so, i asked him, when do i get this thing outta me? and he sat pondering... and finally says, i'm trying to decide whether to do it now or not? he wasn't sure 20 days was enough but he decided to go ahead and do it.

it wasn't nearly as painful as when the tube was inserted but i am so relieved it is out. my eye feels so much better, especially when i rub it. i know, i should stop that. my tear ducts were stretched from the tube that they're a little droopy but it's not obvious.

i see him in 2 weeks and he predicts that i will be very happy and smiley when i see him... let's hope!

baby shower #3 & baby kane

on saturday, kelly's mom hosted kelly's 3rd baby shower. it was great fun and the food was delicious! we played games and shared horror stories on giving birth. um, so i think i'll take my time when i have a baby...

then on sunday, i went to see my cousin lily's 11 week-old baby boy. he was so sweet and chunky. he fell asleep in my arms while i caught up with her on family stuff. her sister debbie is getting married this coming sunday! i can't believe it's already here... i best get myself to the gym.

even bigger news...

as of today, ted accepted an offer for a job in fremont. which means... he's moving up! he's putting in his notice for his apartment as well. it's so strange that my boyfriend will actually be in the same city, not to mention apartment, as i am! the target move date is september 10th. it's pretty exciting news... isn't it?

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!

baby shower number 2

on saturday, my best friend kelly had a surprise baby shower in santa barbara at her mother-in-law, cece's house. kelly's husband chris grew up in a great house, complete with a swimming pool and huge back yard, not to mention minutes away from the beach. and... cece used to bake wedding cakes, yum.

so my day started bad, i was lame and got to the airport when my plane was taking off with at least a 30-minute wait in the security lines. don't ask, it's unexplainable. so i got a flight two hours later and got to the surprise shower late. fortunately, ted and i arrived when kelly's sister joy and her little family arrived. so we came in together. and surprise! kelly didn't expect to see me. i was glad to make it. cece was a wonderful hostess with a delicious spread.

the shower was also a great opportunity to catch up with some college friends. even though i hadn't seen nilda since last october at the trash can sinatras show at the troubadour, it wasn't until the shower that we actually got to talk. and i met her boyfriend glenn with who she had her first date with on the day of the trash cans show. she looked gorgeous and so happy. after talking to her again, it took me back to college. i remembered how witty and sassy she is. karissa and kirk were also there. i hadn't seen them since kelly's wedding in may. i actually never got to speak to kirk until the shower. kirk was hilariously funny. karissa and kirk make a very cute couple. we stayed to play poker with them and others.

we finally left at 10p to drive up to san jose. i'm not sure how long i lasted (awake) for the road trip. i'm so glad that ted drove. we got back to my place sometime after 2am. and ted stayed for the weekend... but i miss him already.

lou's big 30th birthday

my good friend louis turned 30 on the 10th of august, the same day as my intubation. he had this big bbq bash at the park. it started at 1p and going with our dear friend betty, we didn't show up until 4p!! but actually stayed until 8p. and lou drank the entire time, and rightly so, 30 is something big to celebrate. it's funny, on my 30th, the only person so drunk he had to leave to pass out was marris, um yeah, that's all i have to say about that...
i've known louis for 10 years now. it's hard to believe that we were a tender 20 years old when we first started hanging out. he's one of the sweetest guys i know... and i'm so glad he's still in my life.

intubation of my left eye **warning-- may be a bit graphic**

this morning, i had my eye procedure done. it started with the numbing of my nose. my ophthalmologist had these tools to keep my nose open, then he jabbed at my nose with some other instrument. it wasn't really painful, just uncomfortable. then he said, the problem here is... big tools, small nose. :(

the next was numbing my eye and that was the worst! well, almost the worst. he had this needle that went into my eye, there was some squirting and suddenly, my eye was flooded with fluids (most of which was my own tearing).

so that i don't go into too much detail, basically, the doctor puts a tube through my top and bottom tear ducts and down through where both connect down to my nose. the procedure was pushing through in the tear ducts (and hopefully pushing out whatever was clogging up my tear duct) and have the tube in for several weeks to widen my tear ducts. the really painful part was when he was pushing through the tube and it got stuck, going down from my eye to my nose, and he had to push it back up. ouch!
the procedure was a success and so, i'm supposed to have the tube in for a few weeks... i go back next week for a following up. another weird thing is, i can feel the tube in my eye... eeek. anyhow, wish me luck!

caroline & fred pinchon - wedding #3 or was it #4?

yesterday, ted and i ventured down to westminster to attend my friend caroline's last wedding of the year. they were officially married at the chicago city hall last year. that was wedding number one. since then, they've had two more weddings in france. fred is french, hence the weddings in france. and this one was a chinese banquet and their last wedding celebration.

it was a nice small event. ted and i sat with the couple. the last time we saw them was right before they got engaged. they stayed with me for a night and then headed down to carmel for a couple of days. carmel was where fred proposed to caroline. it was all very exciting and sweet.

it was nice to see them and catch up for a bit. we're hoping we can finally make it out to chicago next year. so, that was my 4th wedding of 2005. i have one last wedding to go...

jon brion & surprise guests

venue: largo
artist: jon brion
who: ted
when: 05 august 2005 (friday)
doors open at 8:30p

as we walked to the reservations line, i think i see rhea perlman. then i think, nah... but once we get to the end of the line, i see this really short man who looks exactly like danny devito! then i hear him say, rhea! check this out! they were there with their family. it was very cool to think that danny devito and rhea perlman would go see jon brion.

so, we get in and they show us to our seats. prime location! right at the front. it was better than the last time we went! when you get reservations to the jon brion show, you get a table which requires dinner. so this time, i got something different. i got the honey baked chicken breast with mashed potatoes and salad. not only was the salad very yummy, i had to eat all of it but the rest of the food was good too. ted usually gets the chicken caesar salad because it was safe to get. he liked my entree though.

jon brion is really utterly amazing. you feel like you're in the presence of pure genius. not only does he play all sorts of instruments but he also sings. so, he does original songs, then he takes requests but puts in his own thing. oh and another thing, being so close, i couldn't really see any wrinkles on his face! i think he's in his 40's? and well, maybe some on his forehead that his hair covers up but nowhere else!

we stayed for the second set this time. we'd prepared ourselves and took a short nap earlier in the day. last time i went, i was fighting to stay up and ended up having to leave before the second set. so, there are some surprise guests in the second set and it's fiona apple and nickel creek, this folk band. i didn't really like fiona apple before, i just thought she was too angry. ted is a huge fan. and after seeing her live, i was very impressed. i don't think i can say that i don't like her anymore but i kinda do now.

t-c haters unite

i don't know about you but i hate tom cruise. as a result, i vowed never to watch any of his movies. i no longer watch the old ones i've seen when they are played on tv. and under no condition do i watch any of his new releases. i didn't think much of him when he was in top gun, what was the big deal? he's a little guy with a big nose. but it wasn't until i saw him in interview with a vampire as lestat did i start to respect him as an actor. but that seemed to have been it, so i reckon it was just a spoof role.

not only do i find him utterly repulsive but i grew to disrespect him even more when he and nicole kidman separated. if someone like nicole kidman married him, there must have been something i overlooked. but then they broke up and all my evil thoughts of him returned and stayed. he's had awful taste in women since. especially his current flavor of the month,. could katie holmes be any more annoying? what's with her talking only on one side of her mouth? does she have some sort of speech impediment?

recently, i read some very funny comments made by the legendary lauren bacall. apparently, she's a t-c hater too. i'm glad i'm not the only one who thinks he's a horrendous actor...

probing procedure on valium... in my eye!!

i went to see the ophthalmologist i was referred to for my eye surgery. he seemed nice. the office was very different. it was like an all in one free for all eye center full with a store of eye glass frames. there were ophthalmogists, an optometrist,opticians and others. there's a sun room in the middle of the office with a tree growing in it. i should have taken a picture.

after speaking to him briefly about my teary left eye, he stuck a syringe in my eye and injected saline without warning. suddenly, i was in a lot of discomfort. the doctor explained to me that he would be doing a probing procedure where he will put me on valium to relax me and insert tubing in through my tear duct to push out the blockage. here's an illustration:
this procedure should clear out the blockage at the top (to come down through my throat, gross!), however, if there is blockage deep in my tear duct, i will need an operation. the deeper the blockage is in the tear duct, the more serious it is. the doctor mentioned that he had a feeling that the blockage in my eye is deeper in my tear duct due to the amount of mucus that discharged when he injected saline into my eye. if this is the case, he will know soon after he does the probing.

i see him in two weeks... until then, he doesn't want me to clean out the build up in my left eye to see how much accumulates. then, i get to do the probing procedure while fully awake and in utter discomfort... eek.

the magic of photoshop

see chris's brother in the background?

now you don't!

that my friend, is the magic of photoshop... and me, on how to work the magic. ;)

big news...

last night, joe, the singer of ted's band called him to say that he was planning on quitting the band. and ted was planning on telling the rest of the band at a meeting tonight but their drummer disappeared to the east coast. so, the band is officially broken up, i think. and well, ted has nothing holding him in la now. so he is planning on moving up to sf! with me!

i told my manager that it looks like i am staying and she said, let's work on getting you that promotion! i'm excited about staying around my family,
about my boyfriend moving up here to be with me and start a new band,
about getting a promotion,
about keeping my doctors...

but i'm in shock that it's actually going to happen. i've been mentally preparing myself to live in la and was ready to go on my interview at ucla in august. but now, it's all changed. is it really happening though?

hmmm... !!

another surgery... eek.

on friday, i had an appointment with the ophthalmologist. i've had this problem with my left eye. some days it's really bad, other days, it's tolerable. after having to dab at my eye with q-tips the entire day at kelly's wedding, i finally decided to get it checked out. especially since i've had this problem since last october or so. and it's gotten progressively worse.

so, i first had to get an appointment with my primary care physician for a referral. then i wait for the referral to be authorized and then i am able to call the ophthalmologist. so, I then make an appointment with the ophthalmologist and she checks me out. and now, i wait for yet another referral authorization for the surgeon.

two years ago, i was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. the thyroid maintains metabolism and you can't really live without one unless you are on synthetic thyroid hormones for the rest of your life. without the hormones, your brain slowly dies. i had a fine needle aspiration (basically a needle biopsy) done on my thyroid and out of the 8 samples my endocrinologist took, they found cancer in all 8 samples. my endocrinologist sent the samples to the guy who wrote the text book (for medical students) on thyroid disease. so, i knew i didn't need a second opinion. within the same month of my diagnosis, i had surgery, a full thyroidectomy. then following the surgery, i had a body scan to see how much cancer was still in my body. the nuclear medicine doctor said it was "a good amount." so, i had radiation treatment called an ablation. it's not as harsh as chemo. it took a few days of being stuck in a room covered in plastic and labeled "radioactive" but i got through it and the body scan following the treatment came with a smile.

since then, i've had two body scans that have turned up clear. while i have 3 more years until i am declared cured, i feel very good about my health. it's made me realize how short life is. i felt very lucky for all the care i had with doctors and support from family and friends.

this ocular surgery isn't cancer, at least hopefully not, but is still very frightening. if left untreated, that may lead to infections that may lead to who knows what else. so my thoughts are, i need to get this done asap. i can't say i am looking forward to it but i know i will be fine with the network of family and friends i have around me.

4th of july & los angeles...

i spent the last 5 days in los angeles with ted. i flew down in the afternoon on thursday. ted and i went straight to kelly's to pick her up for lunch. we had our usual at the california chicken café. very healthy.

the next day, we slept until 2pm. apparently, we were tired. we ran some errands and did as much as we could for what was left of our friday. this included seeing batman begins at 11:30p. it's so nice to be able to go to a movie with your significant other...

on saturday, we were really good. we woke up to go to a spinning class (cycling, they call it at 24) at 10am. and it kicked both our asses. i'm still hurting today. and frankly, i'm feeling a bit whimpy about that...

sunday was nigel's (the band's drummer) bbq in silver lake. it was fun chatting with all the transplants in la, including ted. it's pretty amazing how so many people from every corner of the world end up in la.

yesterday, monday was my very last day. we went to rob's bbq who is ted's mom's best friend's husband's brother. he is helping me find a job and is very very nice. his house is just as fabulous as he and his partner are! ted and i had a lovely time.

being in la with ted for an extended period of time made me really want to move there asap. i love him so much and feel more and more comfortable making la my new home. now if only i can find a job that pays enough...

no confrontation necessary

good news. my sister-in-law confirmed that my other sister-in-law rejected the hat as hers. now the hat is back where it belongs, with me. and is mine all mine!

long lost sun hat from tokyo!

last year, i went to tokyo with kiki. on this tokyo trip, she and i did a lot of shopping. this included the purchase of one very cute fabric sun hat for the bargain price of about $10USD. after coming back in april, summer was around the corner and out this hat came. i took it with me every where i went, to the park, to LA when visiting ted, e v e r y w h e r e. and one day, it went missing. i searched and searched but it was no where to be found. i felt awful for having it for a couple of months and then poof! it was gone.

this past weekend, there was a bbq upstairs at my brother's place. most of the siblings with their significant others/spouses were there, on our side and my sister-in-law's side of the family. the next day, yesterday, i saw the hat sitting in the living room on a chair. i recognized the striped lining and asked my brother where this came from. i went crazy thinking, this is my hat from japan!! the tag was in japanese and was a size s/m, which is exactly what i remembered it to be. then he mentioned that it might belong to my other sister-in-law because she wears hats like that one. i thought, this is true.

i then went downstairs to my apartment and remembered where i kept my receipts from japan. i remembered it was from uni-globe and that it was 100,00 yen. i found the receipt and couldn't decipher the japanese. then i found some numbers on the tag that matched the receipt!! i knew it was my hat!!

now, i don't know how to approach my sister-in-law about it. i'm thinking that i will wait for her to ask about it if it truly does belong to her... i just hope it will not be taken away from me again.

my new partner in crime... ok, maybe not

since alex and betty have been gone, i've been spending much needed quality time with my niece. previously, as in a couple of months ago, she hated me. she would cry in terror at the sight of me. one step and she immediately takes cover behind the nanny. i don't know what happened but she now loves me. when anyone takes her away from me, she literally is kicking and screaming. she is the sweetest thing!

oh and she absolutely adores ted which of course, means she's got great taste at the ripe age of two. whenever she comes downstairs to the apartment, she yells out 'ted! ted! ted!' as if to say 'come out, come out wherever you are!' then she gets a hold of this picture of ted and me, but somehow her little hand always ends up covering me up. and when i have my laptop on, with ted's face as my background, she can't seem to keep from touching the screen where his face is. it's almost a caressing motion on my screen. i think she is in love with my boyfriend... hmm, i better keep an eye on that saucy little girl!

betty leaving... for 2 months

my partner in crime and the most perpetually late person i know, is leaving today for 2 months in asia. she will hit malaysia for a wedding, taiwan and hong kong to visit family/friends, and japan to visit kazuki and others. she's also making a stop in new york for a few days. it must be nice to have summers off. i'm sad that she's going without me and that she'll be gone. :(

our new partner in crime, spike, is also leaving tonight. only she will be gone for 1 week to the pink beach house across the country. and that won't be as bad for pre-occupying myself. after all, i have the kiddies to hang out with. spike and i will be hanging out this summer and will always be on time for everything! imagine the concept of not being 1-2 hours late to an event?! it's a thrill thinking about it since it's so rare that we arrive anywhere on time with betty alongside us.

last night we celebrated by chowing down at kiralas (betty's fav sushi restaurant in berkeley) and dancing the night away at popscene. louis was our guest star last night. hmmm, i wonder if betty is done packing yet?

anyway, bon voyage betty! love ya lots and i wish i could go!

sunday dinner

i had dinner with jackie, her husband rob, and former & one current ips crew as well as significant others and one offspring. this dinner was to bid dear farewell to netty, who has, after being here for about ten years, finished his academic career including his BA, MA, and PhD, at stanford. it's hard to believe that he's leaving us! he's going back to thailand to one day, become prime minister. that means, he's our thailand hook up! ;)

spiro and may's little girl cena is the cutest! she's so friendly and smiley. she went around the room giving everyone hugs. she's got rolls everywhere! and looks just like may, minus the rolls. and may looks great for having given birth.

clockwise from the top: may & spiro, netty & neil, me, connie, mee & little cena, jackie & rob

i finally met netty's so, neil, who has met my so, ted. netty & neil went to one of the gigs in phoenix last weekend. they really liked the band, breakfast in tokyo. so now, netty is the only one out of the group to have met ted. at least, he can vouch for me that i'm not making ted up out of thin air!

caesars - paper tigers

venue: bottom of the hill
band: the caesars
who: kiki & spike
when: 08 june 2005 (wednesday)
doors open at 8:30p

we actually got there on time. and, got rock star parking too. good thing, because it started raining. the 3 of us had a great time as we always do. we sat at the bar the entire time. we had drinks, food, and met a lot of random people stopping at the bar. including a 25 y/o australian named david. it was his birthday that night so we bought him a drink. then we went to 330 ritch to check out the guy from ride. we caught it at the very last song and then it was time to go home. the music was very sleepy, much like that of ride. adam from australia chatted it up for quite a while with david from australia. i think adam had fun talking about his hometown... he mentioned the jets saying something along the lines of melbourners sucking and their town was better or something? oh who cares...
oh, i forgot to mention the caesars. as i expected, they didn't remember us from two years ago and driving them all around san francisco for their very first time, or so they said. not that kiki & i approached them that night or anything. nothing happened that night and i am very glad about it. she talked to them the following night. the music was okay, it's strange to actually recognize their songs though. maybe i'm still in shock but they're total divas now...

baby kane sy!

my cousin lily gave birth this morning, get this, au naturelle! no drugs!?! why she would do such a thing, who the hell knows but she survived and that's all that matters.

name: kane tu sy
dob: 7 june 2005
time: 4:47a
weight: 8lbs 12oz


baby kane!

oh and lily highly doesn't recommend the delivery sans drugs method. i guess she just wanted to try it...

congrats to lily & toeu!

my lovely cousin lily

... is currently having contractions with her second pregnancy/child. she has a very cute little 3 y/o boy named nathan and will give birth any second to a second little boy to be named kane. i guess now, we just wait... tick tock tick tock... can't wait!!

here's the link to her baby's web site. enjoy!

comments!!

yay! i got a comment... this proves that someone actually reads my blog! does it count if it was from family though? i hope not. ;)

kelly & chris burich

my best friend kelly got married yesterday at the ralston hall in belmont. i had the honor of being her maid of honor. and despite starting the day at 6am and ending it at around 11pm, it was worth every minute to share this lovely day with her and her new husband chris.

we got ready at the san jose marriott where there was an anime convention. needless to say, we did not blend well with the anime fans consisting of geeks and gals in costume and regular attire. my cousin debbie did hair & make-up for me, kelly, and kelly's mother. i didn't recognize myself after she was through with me! she's been known to work miracles... and of course kelly looked very beautiful.

the church ceremony was at 1pm and i was very nervous! it went off very well despite the missing presentation of flowers to the virgin mary. it was so exciting for me to be there next to kelly at the church. it was one of the shortest catholic church ceremonies i've been to yet.


me & ted


my lovely cousin debbie & her fiancé roger

despite the 3 cocktails on a very empty stomach, i was able to give my speech without a hitch. it was not only slur-free with minimal word stumbling but also tear-free which was my main concern. and, i made the guests laugh, twice. yeah, i know, i'm awesome.


chris & kelly doing the garter belt gig

this was after the bouquet toss that actually initially landed at my feet. it was between me and joanne and we both jumped away from it! afterwards, kelly told me i was supposed to catch it and that she aimed for me. i knew she was!

today, kelly's parents had a luncheon at their home for the opening of the gifts and a nice spread of food. ted and i stuffed ourselves. and then they are off to australia tonight for a 16-day honeymoon. i'm so jealous.

sandra & pedro

me and ted at sandra's wedding in pasadena, as many of you know, is my favorite place in the world

jerk in the lame yoga class

yesterday, i went to my usual step class at the gym. the class before is the lame piyo (pilates-yoga) class. the instructor erma yelled at me and others previously, so until i can, 1) yell at her for being such a sucky yoga teacher or, 2) make her cry for being such a sucky yoga teacher, then i will always come to this step class bitter and give erma dirty looks. sure, i wrote a letter to her boss complaining about her but she's still there, isn't she?

as soon as the class starts getting up from their rest phase, i make my way in to get my step, risers and weights. the step is this big clunky bench that i usually drag with one hand while i have the risers in my other hand. while the music is still on, the piyo class is over so i drop the step and it makes this loud clash on the floor. then, to my left, i hear someone say, can you be any louder? i look over at this jerk and say, actually, i can. i proceed to get my weights and he walks by right as i get back to my step. i then throw my dumbbells on the ground barely missing his feet and say to him, is that loud enough for you? then he walks off saying something about not wasting his time blah blah blah.

if you're going to throw something at me, just because i'm a small person don't think that i won't throw 10 things back at you.

hoi's big three-o bash on sunday

yesterday, hoi and her husband sid threw a lovely brunch at maggiano's in a private banquet room. there were about 30 of us. and SO MUCH food!! it was great.


the sok family @ maggiano's (sid, matthew & hoi)

after an attempt to walk off a very filling lunch (including double orders of desserts per the birthday girl) around santana row, not to mention to pick up hoi's birthday card, betty and i headed over to hoi & sid's place for the opening of gifts and birthday cake. we thought we were taking our sweet time walking around santana row but we were only the second group of people from the lunch to show up. for the next several hours, we sat around watching tv, chatting, trying to play sceneit?, eating cake and watching little matthew run around.


me with hoi's little sweetie, matthew

betty and i were the last to leave. i realized that since the lunch began at noon and we were leaving at 7p, we'd spent nearly a work day with them. i'm sure they were glad to see us go, finally.

spike's potluck

alex had a mid-quarter dinner party last night. i brought sangria and some cheese & crackers. alex had strawberry daiquiris and kumquat water. christine (from ips) came with margaritas. i met sanford, ena & sir philip, tahu, keira & her husband. erin (a former ir student), curtiss and danny, whom i'd previously met were there also. it was a fun group.

alex prepared the following menu of which was... as my 4 y/o nephew would say, yummy in my tummy! with a swirling hand gesture over his stomach.

jamaican jerk chicken

mango salsa--she also added papaya

black beans and rice with cilantro pesto

spicy pineapple slices--add vanilla ice cream (it's delish!)

stuffed peppers--she substituted portabello mushrooms for the octopus

jamaican hot pepper shrimp

when alex throws a party, she throws a party! still waiting for betty's recipe for her spicy bell pepper shrimp dish... i imagine that will take a while unless one of us physically watches her send it on her computer.

trashcans

venue: slim's
band: trashcan sinatras
who: kiki & spike
when: 11 may 2005 (wednesday)
doors open at 7:30p

it was my 6th tcs show, second time at slim's. last night, they recorded the show on a cd that you could pre-purchase and pick up after the show. at first, we didn't really care much about it. but half way through the show and being our obnoxious girlie selves, we decided to get the cd so we can hear ourselves laughing in the background in one of the quiet slow songs.

i finally met up with eddy (aka marie) and her husband john from sacramento. see october 2004 post. betty and i met this couple at our first tcs show at the troubadour in march 2004. betty and eddy bumped into each other and was profusely apologizing to each other. then, i think it was john that said, only at a trashcan sinatras show would people be arguing about apologizing back and forth to each other. that brought on a flutter of emails back and forth on whether they or we would be at the next trashcan show. they are a very lovely couple.

then there was creepy brian. he's at every show creeping around me. he always ends up next to me or in the vicinity of my location, just staring over at me. at the first slim's show, we were downstairs and he was to the left just creeping around me, not saying hello or anything but staring at me as if he were speaking to me in esp. last night was no different. for some reason, he ended up upstairs in the opposite corner to us. he'd lost some weight and betty didn't recognize him but i knew his creepiness. then she heard his rapsy creepy voice and confirmed it was him. again, he didn't say hello but just stared. guys should know that this is NOT okay.

alex made friends with the recording guys and after a brief discussion on hippies, he took it upon himself to give us 2 extra copies of the cd, free! sometimes, it is just so cool to be us... ;)

overall, the show was good. they played freetime so we didn't have to shout it out to request it. after having met frank from the cafe du nord show, i couldn't look at him sing. so i watched john douglas the entire time.

more i love yous...

he finally said it. then he said it to me again and again... yay!!

happy one year ted! XOXO

waiting for the siren's call

venue: henry j kaiser
band: new order
who: ted, kiki, spike, linney, lou, rich, jen & anthony
when: 29 april 2005 (friday)
doors open at 7p

ted & i left to pick betty up at 4:30p. she was supposed to come over at 4p but unsurprisingly, she didn't show up. instead, she called at 4p to tell me that her car didn't start. so we ended up picking her up. sometimes, i feel like she does this on purpose? hmmm...

so, we're on 880 heading to oakland and we're actually almost there and i get this phone call. it's alex, and she says... am i driving right behind you or what? then i looked in my rear-view mirror and it's alex in her saturn. so we just caravan'd it the rest of the way.

the chemical brother's were the opening gig. they mixed it up for about an hour and a half. after the first half hour, i was chemical brother'd out! i started to fall asleep towards the end. but when new order started, i had to stand up. we all stood up at the front of the balcony and danced away. bernard sounded fantastic live. new order played for about an hour and a half and played one encore. blue monday. they added kylie minogue's vocals at the end from her 'can't get you out of my head' rendition to blue monday. it was fabulous!

lame cowboy on the caltrain

what is the deal with strangers listening in on other people's conversations? especially those with funky cowboy hats and feel at liberty to make rude comments. spike and i were on the caltrain on friday afternoon and this guy interrupts us as we were chatting amongst one another...

me: ...i was in high school when that '89 earthquake hit.

lame cowboy: wow, i was in kindergarten when that happened... boy, i feel much better about my age.

lame cowboy should know that it is not okay to say what he said. my response should have been: at least i look much younger AND better than you ...

but alas, i am too nice. ;)

everything will... or not?

after less than 3 hours of sleep, i'm not sure if i am in the right mind to post anything but i had to. because one, i had my annual body scan for my thyroid cancer and it was clear! dr. yen said that my scan looked fantastic and despite my less than 3 hours of sleep, i feel fantastic!

and two, last night was a pre-birthday celebration for betty's big 3-0 at popscene. whenever there is reason to celebrate, we try to do it at popscene, especially if it's on a thursday. louis and rich made it, finally. and alex brought her research assistant, danny, who is a very cute and fun undergrad. and thanks to danny, the everything will mystery hath been solved... and all i can say about it is... i was right! :p

oh and happy 30th betty!!

the wedding present

venue: slim's
band: the wedding present
who: spike & kiki
when: 15 april 2005 (friday)
doors open at 8p

we left shortly after 7p to get there around 8p. i called slim's to see if tix were going to sell out and slim's said it was close but to get there early.

so, we got in and it was very early so there were seats available upstairs. the opening band was called the crystal skulls. they made me think of the 80's. bad 80's music. and bored us out of our minds. there are these guys sitting in the table next to ours. there are five of them (we thought they were gay) and one guy (let's call him glory) kept staring at betty. he was so obvious about it, that alex started giving him dirty looks. finally, as i stepped away for a bathroom break, he took it upon himself to approach betty. with his wedding ring fitting very snug on his ring finger, he claims that he was trying to hook his single friend up. likely story. jerk.

after i returned to my seat, glory comes up to me and puts his slimy arm around me. he proceeds to ask my name. then i tell him to buzz off because we didn't want to talk to him. he finally leaves and his single friend comes up to us to apologize profusely and offers us a round of drinks. sounds like a plan... beligerent, annoying, drunk married guy bothering some ladies and his nice, single buddy comes to the rescue with a round of drinks. hmmm... sounds like they've teamed up before.

all this happened during the wedding present's set. damn that glory. anyway, david gedge played some cinerama songs too. which were the only songs i recognized! they did health & efficiency which he didn't do last year at bimbo's for the cinerama show. despite glory and his antics, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the show. i picked up a couple of cds after the show for myself.

next came the crepe guy missing teeth. across the street from slim's is the crepes-a-go-go truck. betty and i have had crepes there after a show and it always hits the spot. so we go and the older crepe guy making the crepes is talking to alex. then he asks her name and the next thing i see is him making these gestures for her to give him her number and call him. ewwwww!! i couldn't help but burst out with laughter and yell out no no no! then began to walk away and had alex follow me. what a comical end to the night!

kelly's bridal shower

kelly & me (plus paigey)

my best friend kelly is getting hitched at the end of may. today, the other bride's maids & i threw her bay area bridal shower. it was hosted at my apartment. thanks to the help of all the bride's maids, including the matron of honor (kelly's sister joy), it was a huge success!! the party started at 1p. the last party goers left at 5p. it was 4 hours of non-stop fun. i'm so glad that i was able to contribute and participate in such a happy ocassion for kelly...

the theme was hawaiian (hence the lei around my neck). if you look closely, the cake also has a hawaiian theme to it. the food was delicious and plenty. the games were in groups of laughter and creativity. all in all, we had a lovely crowd...

i can't wait for the wedding...

krafty

the many covers of new order

tickets for the new order show on april 29th at the henry j kaiser arena go on sale today. right now, as a matter of fact. but i'm not stressing. even though new order is my most favorite band in the world since i was in the 7th grade. that's because i got the password for the presale from a fellow fan (thanks jen!). so i passed the love (password) around to friends and even random people on craig's list. i put up a post desperately looking for that love. i got my 2 tix on thursday, shortly after the presale started. am i totally ahead of my game or am i totally ahead of my game? ;p

sick for days

it started last thursday and i was feeling spacey at work. so i called my doctor and spoke with her nurse about coming in to be seen. since my doctor wasn't available, she suggested i go to acute care, their walk-in clinic that closes at 8p. so i went, saw a doctor after an hour's wait, has chest x-rays done and left with an allergy diagnosis and prescriptions.

friday morning, i felt 10x worse. i couldn't even speak and my throat hurt like hell. well, i was able to speak albeit i sounded like a frog. ted had planned to drive up that weekend but since i wasn't feeling good, i told him he probably shouldn't come. so i called my doctor's nurse again and having recognized me but not really recognizing me due to the frog i turned into, she squeezed me in at 3p with my doctor. i got there at about 2:45p, got in and out before 3p! she prescribed an antibiotic for a bacterial infection and my cough. she also recommended that ted not come up. but he persisted and decided against my doctor's recommendation that he would come up as planned and take care of me. which was just so sweet of him so i did not dissuade him.

come sunday, i was feeling about 80% back to my normal self. he left sunday night to drive back to LA. i wanted him to stay so badly or go with him, well minus the drive, and it confirmed how much i want to move down to be with him. so i took an extra day off to rest up. since i was able to stay up through the day, i decided i was well enough to go back to work.

it is now friday and i'm about 95% recovered. i haven't gone to the gym in so long, i'm dying to go!! i have a feeling i will be sore for days after my step class tomorrow morning...

hot hot heat

i've decided to write about the gigs i go to in case something exciting happens and i forget all about it...

venue: popscene @ 330 ritch
band: hot hot heat
who: alex, betty (& will)
when: 17 february 2005 (thursday)
doors supposedly open at 9p

we (me, alex & betty), actually got there at 9:30 rather than our usual 1hour+ tardiness. we picked alex up in menlo park on the way. it was her first time at popscene and i promised her freaks, not to mention hot hot heat.

we get there and the line was around the corner. the doors don't open until 10p and good old jorge wouldn't let us in. so we got to the end of the line and it began to rain. i decided i didn't want to wait, so as we went to say good bye to jorge, our friend will magically appears. he's a regular there. he's a really good dancer. i've never seen a white guy groove the way he does. we're still deciding whether it's because he's gay. i just don't get the gay vibe from him. and as a fag hag, i too have gaydar. so will says to us, come back in a couple of hours, jorge will let you guys in. we still decide to leave. we actually head over, around and across the block to a bar by pac bell park called the park. we have a drink each and head back to the club. there's a pizza place inside the club with a window facing the outside. i met some nice aussies cutting in for the pizza. it was their first time too. we get pizza and see if jessica, the coat check chick, is there and if she'd let us in. no such luck, she wasn't there that night. we decide to watch the freaks inside through the window (i promised alex freaks!) and jorge catches us, then he shakes his head and gives us a nod towards the door. score! we get in with time to spare. and time to shake it up.

there was a first that night, we actually spent the whole time dancing during the gig. usually, people just stand and stare, there's hardly any room to dance... it was a good night. and alex saw the ninja guy...

superbowl sunday

so breakfast in tokyo played last sunday at this place called club good hurt. it was a small cozy sort of club. there were 3 bands, bit, the transmissions, and the james-brown-singer band (aka i forgot their name). i know i sound biased but i really thought bit was the best band there. they had the right amount of stage presence, melody, and diverse sound. i really enjoyed the show. i especially enjoyed being able to see the band. normally, in these small venues and since i'm so petite, all i can do is hear the music and see the tops of the crowds' heads.

my first BIT show

ted's band is playing on sunday, in west la at club good hurt. i think it's their 5th gig but it'll be my first time seeing them play. i'm kinda nervous about it. what if they suck? haha. i know, that's mean. i'm sure they'll rock.
my partner-in-crime betty is coming with me. she & i know the singer of their band. it'll be fun to see them with her. i've even got my white go-go dress packed ;)
i can't wait!!

13 year old prom dress

last night, my sister lisa and i went to our brother david's house to drop off some painting tarps and ended up picking up old boxes we'd had stored in his garage. so when we got home, we looked through these boxes and lisa found her old high school prom dress! i'd had mine in our apartment. we decided to try them on to see if they still fit. and they did!! so, we pranced around our apartment with them on. i had to take mine off because of the homemade petticoat was making me itchy. i'm too embarrassed to take a picture and put it online. especially of mine. i sort of went through this renaissance-ish phase. my dress is more like a costume. lisa's dress, on the other hand, is something she can still wear now. but to my credit despite the lack of style, i made both dresses myself. thanks.

mice problem

right, so that's mice as in more than one. my brother helped me catch one a couple of weeks ago (it was as big as a rat!) but there's another one in my apartment not quite as big. how did i find out? i found droppings. apparently, this mouse likes to leave it's droppings on beds. i stayed up past midnight washing my sheets. that was wednesday. i found the mouse and tried to catch it but it quickly ran out of my room (i left the door open) and unfortunately, into my sister's room. good thing she's my part-time roommate and has an alternate bed to sleep in that's NOT in our apartment. last night, i found droppings in her bed and set a trap in her room. i cleaned it before she got home, otherwise, i imagine she'd freak out like i did. now we just have to wait.

tick tock tick tock...

and keeping all the doors closed from now on.

there's three of me!

me photostitched from may 2004

white christmas...

pembroke, massachusetts

i got a white christmas this year. well, the day after christmas was a white one. does it still count?

ted, me & alcatraz

ted & me coming back from alcatraz

the big 3-0

not much happened. i still feel like i'm 26. maybe i just act like i am. it helps A LOT with a 24 y/o bf. what did i expect one might ask? i didn't expect anything but i hoped i'd wake up transformed into someone who was on top of her issues and projects (ie life). but i suppose that's asking too much to happen over the course of a night.
turkey day is round the corner and there's much to do. remember, you're as young as you feel or look... i guess that makes me 23 again for the 7th year. yay!

ted's band

breakfast in tokyo are playing their first gig tomorrow night in glendale, ca. at the scene at 10pm. i'm totally bummed i'm missing it... at least i can hear two of their songs on their myspace.com website.

www.breakfastintokyo.com

election day & another 4 years in hell

don't even get me started on how the hell 59.6 million people can be so stupid. alas, i have decided i don't want to understand.